1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to apparatus designed to harvest moisture and purify non-potable water, and more particularly, to harvest moisture and purify non-potable water to produce potable water.
2. Description of Related Art
Increasing population requires more clean water. Urban population growth will increase demand for household water, and the need for clean, potable water will increase. Conventional water supplies will run short because of increased demand and local overuse of natural water supplies.
Large amounts of potable water are currently being used by industries which release chemicals into the water that make the water unfit for drinking. One industry use which uses large amounts of water is hydraulic fracking. Much of the fracking solutions are not purified, further reducing the clean water supply.
Some non-operational industries, such as the coal mining industry have ceased operations in certain areas. Since some of them went bankrupt, they have left abandoned mines which now release large amounts of mine drainage into waterways.
Similarly, sometimes wastewater, water contaminated with microorganisms, pharmaceuticals and fertilizers make large amounts of water unfit for drinking.
Another source of non-potable water is salt water, such as seawater or brackish water.
Salt water can be desalinated to create fresh water by conventional methods; however these are not practical in certain regions. The best known methods for desalinization are a) vacuum evaporation by boiling, b) distillation or c) reverse osmosis.
Unfortunately, boiling and distillation requires significant energy to operate efficiently and the resultant cost of treated water puts this technology out of reach for the majority in need. Desalination plants exist in rich nations such as the United States and Saudi Arabia but are not feasible everywhere due to the costs. The lack of capital in developing nations makes large desalination plants with high-volume production impractical.
Another method of desalinating salt water is by using reverse osmosis. Desalinating by reverse osmosis requires placing water under high pressure and forcing the water through porous membranes. The pores are sized to allow water molecules through but do not pass charged ions, such as salt ions. Reverse osmosis requires equipment to raise the water pressure to high levels, again requiring significant energy. Reverse osmosis also only results in a small volume of clean water being produced. Therefore, while it is not very economical or efficient to use reverse osmosis for desalination, it is the most widely used method for desalination, despite its high costs.
Even if one were to use one of these methods, they typically are done in stationary plants and the clean water would have to be transported to where it is needed. Producing potable water near its place of use removes the requirement for transporting the water to where it is needed. Therefore, pipelines, canals or tanker trucks are not required.
Production of high-quality water at or near its place of use is superior to transporting drinking water, which requires substantial consumption of energy for delivery and if bottled, container waste disposal.
Another source of water is moisture in the air. Current technology exists that utilizes fans, pumps, and refrigeration units to extract water vapor from the air; however, it is dependent on electricity or fossil fuels to power the devices. These technologies are not suitable for much of the world's population where artificial power sources are not readily available.
There currently is a global need for cost-effective, simple, efficient, stationary and mobile systems for producing potable water where it is needed.